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By the 1790s, Jefferson increasingly turned to hired slave labor to help run his plantations. Hired slaves, often termed “jobbers” or “hirelings,” were contracted at an agreed-upon rate from nearby owners, with Jefferson providing rations, clothing, and housing. At Monticello, hired slaves built the canal for the Shadwell mills, dug for an icehouse, excavated the foundations of the dependencies near the main house, constructed the Shadwell toll mill, and began initial work on the Shadwell manufacturing mill. In some cases, these hired slaves ran away to their home plantations; others married and formed families with Monticello slaves.